Welcome to Forces of Steel, a forum where metalheads from all over the world congregate. In order to participate, you will need to have an account with us. You can do so by registering or logging in with an existing account.

This can't be stressed enough. If you suddenly can't access the forums, then send an e-mail to admin [at] forcesofsteel [dot] com or find some other way to get my attention. I don't use most forums these days, so e-mailing me is the quickest way to get my attention. Make sure to include all known IP addresses that couldn't connect. It is imperative that I let the host know that you were blocked by mistake. I don't recommend the use of proxies at all.

So far, it looks like very few people are reporting any issues. There was a brief downtime period last night that was on the server's end.

To know that you are specifically blocked, you'd have to get a 403 error message. If you're coming from countries generally regarded as red flags, such as Russia or China, then it's highly advisable to use a reliable VPN service that points to the United States or Canada. Don't use proxies or Tor exit nodes, as they're riskier.

It appears that people are still having trouble pulling up the forums. The best course of action would just be getting a reliable VPN provider. There are multiple, but it all depends on what you're using in the first place.

No reports of anyone being blocked in the last week or so, which leads me to believe that members are now able to visit the forums at ease. On the other hand, I'll have to look into what's causing the 500 internal server error pages to spring up, but I decided to be a little "creative" with it and just put a short message to simply refresh the page.

Still, if and when it happens again, let me know. Send me an e-mail or contact me via the forum IRC channel.